At the end of every year, it's natural for us as human beings to reflect on the past, to look back on the past year. When it comes to music, we all have our own choices as to what songs, albums, and artists have touched us on an emotional level during the last year. In the past, ReGen Magazine has given you, the readers, a cross section of our staff's picks for the best of the year, but for 2007, we're doing something a little different... this year, we present to you a combined list of the Top 10 Albums of 2007! Compiled and tallied from lists submitted by our various staff and contributors, these 10 albums are the cream of the crop, those albums that we as individuals and we as the whole of ReGen feel have risen above the deluge of music that ranges from the excellent to the average to the utter crap. So without further ado...




01. 16volt: FullBlackHabit (Metropolis Records)
One can't deny the sheer power of this record, the first collection of new material from the coldwave heroes in over nine years! Presenting all the best elements of 16volt, from Eric Powell's scratchy vocals to the twisted beats, making for a true, stripped-down, dirty industrial feast; it's as if they never left, with the crunchy metallic assaults of "I'm Just a Mess" and "Cables & Wires" giving way to softer, more electrified songs like "And You Are All Alone Again." Featuring a veritable who's who of the industrial scene, with the likes of Steve White (KMFDM/PIG), Jason Bazinet (SMP), Scott Robison (Drøne), Kraig Tyler (Virus23/Chemlab), and one of the final appearances of bassist Paul Raven (Ministry/Snow Black/Revolting Cocks/Godflesh/Prong/Society 1/etc...), 16volt's FullBlackHabit is more than just a comeback album, but is also perhaps the best example of the sense of community so sorely lacking in the industrial music scene today.




02. The Birthday Massacre: Walking with Strangers (Metropolis Records)
While Walking with Strangers may not be a dramatic departure from their established sound, the Canadian sextet's third album presents a maturity in visual approach and songwriting, augmented by Dave "Rave" Ogilvie's dense production. A beautifully haunting concoction of horror and melody, bridging goth rock and modern electro with those quintessential '80s touches, The Birthday Massacre continue along their mystical path with songs like "Kill the Lights," "Red Stars," and "Goodnight" pumping out the band's more aggressive strides while "To Die For" and "Unfamiliar" show us their softer, more melodic side.




03. Combichrist: What the F**k is Wrong with You People? (Metropolis Records/Out of Line Music)
Arguably the most successful of Icon of Coil vocalist Andy LaPlegua's many other projects, Combichrist continues to trudge on in its merging of all elements of aggressive electronic music, making for a sound that is equal parts EBM, industrial, and techno. From the blistering dance floor energy of "Get Your Body Beat" to the gritty cadences and acid synth lines of the title track, What the F**k is Wrong with You People? literally marches through your speakers with brutal distortion and body-moving rhythms. And yet, amid the aural rage is a heavier emphasis on melody than on any of Combichrist's previous albums, making them more than simple EBM dance floor fillers, but actual songs, marking an improvement (or at least a refinement) of their craft. Love 'em or hate 'em, this is music made to stomp!




04. VNV Nation: Judgment (Metropolis Records)
Continuing down the path forged by Matter + Form, VNV Nation released one of their strongest albums since Empires. Chockfull of their signature emotive lyrics, Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson present a strong sense of improved musicianship and songwriting, mixing organic and synthetic sounds in a way that few other bands can match. More exploration of guitar-esque tones and plenty of layers of synthesizers topped off by lyrics as poetic and inspiring as they are aggressive and condemning, such as on "Nemesis," "Testament," and "Carry You," while still keeping with the synthpop and classical elements on "Illusion" and "Secluded Spaces." In other words, Judgment is a typically good album from VNV Nation that shows the band sticking to their guns while also pushing for evolution of sound, style, and self.




05. KMFDM: Tohuvabohu (Metropolis Records/KMFDM Records)
KMFDM will never stop! And the band makes good on that promise with a "wild and chaotic" album that presents what is perhaps the most varied set of songs the band has released in many years. From the funky bass lines of "Superpower" to the pummeling metal onslaught of "Saft und Kraft" to their trademark mix of industrial rock, danceable rhythms, and sociopolitical commentary on "Looking for Strange," "Spit or Swallow," and the blistering title track, and even exploring languages like Spanish and Hebrew along with their requisite German and English, Tohuvabohu stands as not only one of the best albums of 2007, but perhaps one of the best albums the Ultra-Heavy Beat has released in its long 23-year history.




06. Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero (Nothing/Interscope Records)
Only a short two years after With Teeth, Trent Reznor abandons his flirtations with electro-tinged indie rock for a more aggressive industrial outlook. With longtime collaborators Alan Moulder and Atticus Ross co-producing, Year Zero marked a return to the jagged edge for Nine Inch Nails, catching listeners by surprise with an effective mix of grating synths and searing guitars with the melodic aspects of pop music, making for an accessible yet still experimental outing that also unleashes an almighty rage against the United States government with songs like "The Beginning of the End," "The Good Soldier," "The Great Destoyer," and "Another Version of the Truth" to name but a few. A return to the vitriol and venom that defined such classics as Broken and The Downward Spiral, Year Zero definitely counts as one of Reznor's most mature works under the Nine Inch Nails moniker.




07. Rotersand: 1023 (Metropolis Records)
Far be it from Rotersand to abandon their familiar dance floor territory, but with 1023, they've opted for a greater balance of deep songwriting. While songs like "Lost" and "I Cry" still fill you with the urge to dance, they are offset by a lyrical intensity with feelings of loss and sorrow that permeate throughout the album. It's on the slower paced songs such as "I Am With You" and "Inner World" where 1023's brilliance shines, allowing the album to tower above the band's contemporaries as they temper their EBM style with musical and emotional maturity. It's constant, familiar, and diverse, a roller-coaster that showcases Rotersand's continued growth and amazing ability.




08. Angelspit: Krankhaus (Dancing Ferret Discs)
An adrenaline-filled rush of powerfully crunchy beats and oozing with aggression, Angelspit get medical on the industrial community. From the vocal interplay between the sexy Destroyx and the enigmatic ZooG to the scratchy guitar riffs and distorted programming, fusing together the best elements of industrial, noise, and electro, with songs like "A La Mode a la Mort," "Juicy," "Make You Sin," and "Black Wine" churning out atmospheres that ooze fetishistic sexual energy and slash the listener as harshly as any meat grinder. With such a strong debut as Krankhaus, not only does the future look bright for Angelspit, but for the modern industrial/electro scene as a whole.




09. Blaqk Audio: CexCells (Interscope Records)
The side project of AFI members Davey Havok and Jade Puget may sound like your run-of-the-mill electro-pop group, but with such enticing melodies and infectious beats as those found on "Stiff Kittens" and "Semiotic Love," how can one help but to dance and sing along? Described as "two boys in love with synthesizers and software," and possessing a sound and style that recalls the best elements of '80s synthpop and electroclash, Blaqk Audio's debut album is not revolutionary so much as it offers hope for the underground electro community to make a dent in the fickle world of the mainstream. The songs here are as suited for extended radio play as they are for inclusion in any DJ set list.




10. Assemblage 23: Meta (Metropolis Records)
Ever one for consistency, Tom Shear's Assemblage 23 churns out yet another album of pure, unadulterated futurepop. Meta doesn't stray far from the formula we've seen from Shear's past output: high-speed dance beats, catchy melodic hooks, and emotive lyrics. Yet, in the case of Meta, this is hardly a detriment as songs like "Binary," "Damaged," and "Madman's Dream" pump out your speakers with a mix of divergent styles of electronic music, from breakbeat to house to techno with shades of darkwave. As if that weren't enough, Meta also shows Shear experimenting with more natural and industrial tones such as on "Raw," proving that when it comes to futurepop's penchant for crossing electronic genres, few do it better than Assemblage 23.



Of course, with such a long and productive year and so many albums and artists to choose from, there are certainly other releases worthy of mention. Skinny Puppy's Mythmaker for instance, their second album since their return, progressing the modern formula the band displayed on The Greater Wrong of the Right, yet focusing less on politically-charged lyrics and more towards the darker themes that resound throughout the band's discography. Or another example would be Hypofixx's After December, an unrelenting assault of pounding beats and grinding guitars set to despondent lyrics about various emotional states in one's life, and full of remixes from some of today's biggest names such as Razed in Black and Imperative Reaction. And with the death of Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge, how can one not count Psychic TV's Hell is Invisible... Heaven is Her/e, the first studio album from the psychedelic industrial legends in a decade with updated versions of some of their best known tracks? Cyanotic's Transhuman 2.0, Mindless Faith's Medication for the Misinformed, Einstürzende Neubauten's Alles Wieder Offen, Mind.in.a.Box's Crossroads, The Angels of Light's We Are Him, Ashbury Heights' Three Cheers for the Newlydeads, Front Line Assembly's Fallout, Acumen Nation's Psycho the Rapist; the list goes on. To narrow such vast a selection of music down to these 10 was no easy task, but as ReGen Magazine is dedicated to being an informative resource for the underground industrial/goth/electro scene as well as promoting creativity in all its various forms, the Top 10 Albums of 2007 prove not only that this past year was an excellent year for music, but promises great new things to come in 2008 and beyond.

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